14th Sunday - B

My brothers and sisters!
Jesus said, “A prophet is not with out honor except in his native place and among his own kin and in own house.” This was Jesus’ experience. But I have a different one. As a priest, I don’t have any rejection in my home town, on the contrary, the people in my native place honor me, they welcome me every time I come home for my vacations. They hear me when I give them a sermon … even some of them ask me to stay there to be their pastor. Why do I have a different experience from Jesus? I asked myself and then I found the answer.
The answer is because of the Church. At Jesus time, Jesus was alone. There was not an institution like our Church. The Jews at that time had synagogues and a Temple in Jerusalem. But Jesus did not belong to any one of them. Jesus was alone … He made a new era. So that’s why people, even his own kin and relatives, had difficulty to see who Jesus was, except as a carpenter. But now I belong to the Church. I am a Catholic Church priest. So I realize that if the people honor me and accept me, not because of me as a person, but they honor and accept the Church. This is the same as you do here or I experience here. You hear my teaching; it is because I am a priest of the Church. Consider if I were to leave the Church and I didn’t want to be a priest anymore, would you still accept me? Will you still hear me as you are listening to me now? I’m sure that you won’t. The people in my home town also will not honor or welcome me anymore. So with this experience I realize that I am saved in the Church.
Every time I celebrate the Eucharist I pray a prayer of peace before communion and I say: Look not on our sins, but on the faith of your Church. You see how the faith of the Church saves us. Of course we have to understand that the salvation offered by the Church comes from Jesus Himself as the Head of the Church.
I just want to say how important the Church. We cannot say, “If I’m all right with Jesus, then I don’t need the Church.” No, it is wrong because we will not be all right with Jesus without the Church. The reason is we, human beings, need a family to grow up. We need a community to develop. I know that you Americans are very proud of your Individualism. You appreciate the sacredness of the individual. Whenever you can you want to be independent and set apart yourself from your parents, from your core family. But radical individualism brings people to loose connection. That means that people are not plugged in very tightly to groups or associations and no institution can hold individuals very securely, such as marital institution. That’s true when I read an article about marriages in the US, I found that: in 1960 one in four marriages would fail, today one in two will. So 50% American families break! It is not something that we should be proud of, especially for us the Catholics.
Do you know why the Catholic Church holds tight to the indissolubility of marriage? There are three reasons: First, we believe that a catholic marriage is God’s will. The couple is united by their love for each other, and we know that God is love. If once God has united you, He will not change His mind after a couple of years. God doesn’t play with our life. It is the same as my vocation as a priest. Second, we believe that a marriage or a family life is also a way to holiness. If a couple has many problems in their family life, it means that there is something wrong within each one of them. If they decide to divorce, it means that they run away from the problems. It’s childish! But if each one of them tries to control one self and to see what’s wrong within one self and then tries to change one self … so each one of them will grow to a more mature personality, that means that they will grow to perfection, they grow to holiness. And the third reason why God wants the inseparable marriage is because of the children. The children will suffer most when their parents get divorce.
In the second reading we heard St. Paul talk about “thorn in his flesh.” He suffered with this thorn, and he prayed that God would take away the thorn. But God answered him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” God didn’t want to take the problem away, but He made it as a grace in disguise. We all have our own thorn in the flesh, our own problem. It may be chronic illness, a fractured relationship, deep disappointment, or any number of things. But if we humbly acknowledge before God that we have our own weakness also, He promises us His grace.
You know, we will find his grace in a community, in a family and especially in His Church. As same as you were hurt by others, you will be cured also by others’ love. As same as you grow in a family, you will give growth also for others in a community. So love your family, love your community and love you Church. Say to them that you need them. Jesus had been rejected in his native place, but he will never reject anyone who comes to Him. Let us come to him through his mystical Body, the Church. Amen